Yonladee gets Thai passport, pledges to aim him in Genius Olympiad

[webfact]

Yonladee gets Thai passport, pledges to aim him in Genius Olympiad

By The Nation

 

 

The 17-year-old Ranong-based schoolgirl Yonladee Phiyatat, who last week received Thai nationality after being a stateless person for all her life, received her first Thai passport on Tuesday as she prepared to attend the Genius Olympiad in the United States.

 

Ranong Governor Chatupoj Piyumputra and Stree Ranong School teachers accompanied Yonladee to apply for her Thai passport at the Department of Consular Affairs in Bangkok, while department director-general Chatri Archjananun welcomed them.

 

 

After she received this document, Yonladee said she was very happy and proud to receive her first ever passport and thanked all kind-hearted senior persons and officials who helped her get it.

 

In the next step, Yonladee will apply for a US visa for the upcoming trip.

 

She pledged to do her best to bring fame to Thailand.

 

The girl’s request for Thai citizenship was quickly approved earlier last week, after going public over her fear of losing the opportunity to attend the contest in New York next month.

 

Yonladee quickly got media limelight, attention from relevant authorities, as well as public sympathy.

 

Despite having been born and grown up in Thailand, Yonladee had not automatically received Thai citizenship because her parents were foreign migrants.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30369360

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2019-05-14

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[George Bowman]

9 minutes ago, webfact said:

Yonladee gets Thai passport, pledges to aim him in Genius Olympiad

By The Nation

I am assuming that the reporter is not involved with the competition...

[monkeycu]

11 minutes ago, missoura said:

I am assuming that the reporter is not involved with the competition...

Makes you wonder how these ( reporters   ) get a job

Do they pay for it, as I doubt there is much of an entrance exam

[toenail]

I think the article using the words “ foreign migrants” is a bit misleading or avoiding the real issue in Thailand. Various ethnic groups ( or tribes) coming from the mountain areas of Myanmar and Laos are not recognized as citizens in any of these two countries including Thailand. In fact ( my personal opinion) some of these countries, such as Myanmar, would rather wipe these minority ethnic groups off planet earth. Congratulations to this student receiving Thai citizenship... and good luck to her.

[Orton Rd]

Genius and Thai are two words not often used in conjunction with each other are they, good luck to the ethnically Burmese lady!

[Misterwhisper]

I am happy for her. She deserves that passport and in fact should've been recognized as a full-fledged Thai citizen long ago.

 

But the fact that things have now been rushed through all of a sudden nevertheless leaves a suspicious aftertaste:

55 minutes ago, webfact said:

She pledged to do her best to bring fame to Thailand.

The prospect that Yonladee - regarded until most recently as a foreigner not worthy of a Thai passport - might bring fame to Thailand through her participation at the Genius Olympics unfortunately is the SOLE reason why her case was hurried up. And there is no shred of a doubt in my mind that Thailand will claim full credit and flog Yonladee's personal success as a national triumph in case she indeed brings back a trophy. Wait for the news being splashed all across local newspapers and being peddled in NNT press releases. And yet... without her invitation to that competition, she'd still be stateless.   

[GroveHillWanderer]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

Yonladee gets Thai passport, pledges to aim him in Genius Olympiad

Or, as the linked article in the Nation now more correctly states, she actually 'pledges to aim high.' (Although I suspect it's been updated).

[Knee Jerk Reaction]

1 hour ago, toenail said:

I think the article using the words “ foreign migrants” is a bit misleading or avoiding the real issue in Thailand. Various ethnic groups ( or tribes) coming from the mountain areas of Myanmar and Laos are not recognized as citizens in any of these two countries including Thailand. In fact ( my personal opinion) some of these countries, such as Myanmar, would rather wipe these minority ethnic groups off planet earth. Congratulations to this student receiving Thai citizenship... and good luck to her.

I think a lot of the enmity in Myanmar goes back to WW2 when ethnic groups like the WA, Kachin and Rohingya were allied to the British and had anti-Japanese guerilla armies that not only took on the Japanese but also gave a bloody nose to the Japanese ally the Burma Independence Army led by Aung San Suu Kyi's father.